Here it is, the final round of the home and away season. There are finals positions to finalise (well, a couple) and a DangerGawn race to determine.
For some teams, the season will end come Sunday night. But for others…
GAME OF THE ROUND
Perhaps the only game that matters this weekend, as Midnight and the Sparkles battle for the 5th seed and an elimination final against Te Puke Pukekos. The loser gets the Devils.
How big a prize that is is ultimately in the eye of the beholder. Lucky for us, those two teams are playing one another. More on that later…
Oh, and there’s also the matter of whether Nick Daicos can secure back-to-back DangerGawn Medals. A game within the game, if you will.
In terms of the actual matchup, keep an eye on Saturday afternoon’s Hawks v Kangas matchup – there’s every chance 11 players across both teams feature in that one.
We should have an early sense of how strong the Threat Level Midnight challenge is this weekend, even beyond that Saturday afternoon clash. Bontempelli, Serong, Gulden and Sheezel all take the field before Saturday’s twilight fixtures. Those are the heavy lifters.
They’ll also finish the round with the stronger hand, so the Sparkles will want a lead. The Sparkles will have Keays playing a lone hand in the final game of the round, whereas Midnight will have McAndrew, Hall-Kahan, Worrell, and Bryan.
Key Outs
Sparkles: Rozee, Butters, Viney, Briggs
Midnight: Farrell, Richards, Newman
Last time these two met
Was a bye round fizzer, with the Sparkles winning comfortably in a game where both sides failed to inspire the scoreboard much.
Threat Level Midnight actually had the better performers, at least as far as centurions go – four to the Sparkles two. Unfortunately, they also had less players playing.
DangerGawn votes
| Jordan De Goey |  | 127 |
| Nick Daicos | | 109 |
| Nic Newman |  | 109 |
SNEAKY INTERESTING MATCHUP
Inaccurate to call this one sneaky, it’s just plain interesting to have 3rd taking on 4th at this late stage. A finals-like test for these two ahead of their respective elimination finals against the two teams in the match of the round.
The Devils dug deep last weekend to grind out a hard-won victory over the in-form TLM. The win was made all the more impressive given the quality of the names still on the injury list.
Speaking of grinding out victories, Pukekos did it again, holding out the Soldiers by less than 70 points.
While the round begins on Thursday night, this particular clash doesn’t begin until Friday (I’m choosing to overlook possible looping for narrative storytelling purposes). But the Friday is interesting, with the Devils having a host of major players taking the field, and Pukekos having barometers like English and Sanders on their side of the fence.
Hawthorn v Kangaroos is interesting here as well, but for different reasons. Pukekos has four Hawks, and no Roos. And with Amon out, the Devils have none from either on the field.
Then we have the almost inverse with Richmond v West Coast. The Devils have four Tigers, and Pukekos have the solitary Eagle. Some guy named Harley Reid.
There may not be any real stakes here, but both teams will be looking to keep spirits high heading into the first week of finals. We’ll forgive them if they spend most weekend keeping tabs on the game of the round though.
Key Outs
Devils: Rozee, Butters, Viney, Amon, Briggs
Pukekos: Parish
Last time these two met
An impressive win for Pukekos in round 12, breaking the 1800 point barrier and winning by 119 points (any Port fans in the house tonight?)
DangerGawn votes
| Isaac Heeney |  | 163 |
| Lachie Ash | | 131 |
| Conor Idun |  | 122 |
STRAY OBSERVATION
Alex has already laid out the state of play with the DangerGawn, but a quick recap. It’s a two horse race. Nick Daicos (Sparkles) has a two vote lead over Will Ashcroft (Soldiers).
The Pies play the Cats, which means Mullin tag. Can Mullin do Ashcroft a solid? As has already been well established in this preview, the Sparkles take on TLM, who have plenty of firepower. Daicos will have some hurdles before him if he’s to add to his 22 votes.
Ashcroft is taking on the Blues. And his Soldiers are taking on the Roughnecks. No doubt the likes of Smith and Wanganeen-Milera will be keen to deny him the 3 votes he’ll be craving.
A few others things to keep an eye on this weekend:
- The scoring title. MaherShalalHashBaz have a 178 point margin on the Roughnecks. That’s going to be very difficult for the Roughnecks to reign in over the course of one weekend.
- The Devils and the Sparkles are separated by just 22 points on the season! Given as it stands they’d be facing off in an elimination final, that should whet the appetite.
- Last round of scores to influence All-Australian spots. The forwards look set, and doesn’t seem there will be loads of movement in the midfield. But there’s about 5 defenders with averages between 97 and 96 fighting for two spots.
Finally, I recommend everyone try to enjoy this weekend. It’s a long, long off-season.
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